2. The Parties

Highspeed, a California limited liability company, was authorized by the Commission to provide resold and facilities-based competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC), interLATA, and intraLATA services within California. This authority was granted on December 17, 1998 pursuant to Decision (D.) 98-12-083, which assigned Highspeed its corporate identification number U-6102-C. Highspeed filed its tariffs on July 29, 1999 to provide residential and business telecommunications services within California pursuant to the authority granted by D.98-12-083. The tariffs became effective on December 8, 1999.

Highspeed, under the name of NTIC, provides only wireless internet services, a telecommunications service not currently regulated by this Commission, to 120 customers located primarily in and around Bakersfield, Kern County, California.

Northwest, a Washington corporation, provides rural telecommunications services in the Pacific Northwest within the states of Washington, Idaho, and Oregon as a facilities-based CLEC. It connects telecommunications services from metros to rural areas and between rural areas. It primarily serves as a carrier access provider targeting underserved markets which larger carriers abandon due to financial costs.

NTIC, a California limited liability company, came into existence upon its filing of a limited liability company restated articles of organization with the California Secretary of State's office on July 16, 2004 seeking to change the name of Highspeed to NTIC. The California Secretary of State approved the name change and issued a certificate of good standing to NTIC as a California Limited Liability Company on July 20, 2004. NTIC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Northwest.